2014-07-14 I had an exciting day... Things started off normally enough. I woke up. Performed my usual morning rituals. For breakfast I ate some berries and yogurt. After chilling for a bit I headed out back to the road towards Great Basin. The road snaked its way along for a few miles before descending through a small pass where I came out into the Snake Valley; a wide, flat expanse of desert scrub and range land. I trundled northwest, passing a few small corrals and other range appurtenances here and there. I took a small detour along a track I saw on my right. It looked like it was heading into the southern portion of the Snake Range that comprises Great Basin NP, perhaps into an interesting canyon? Alas, it did not. I kept going hoping to get a nice view perhaps as it it did keep ascending, but when I reached the summit of the road and saw that there was really not much to see I turned around and headed back to the main road. Soon enough I came out onto pavement, Rt. 20, and headed north, still not sure of exactly what I would do today in the park. Speeding along I passed a park sign for Lexington Arch. This was one of the possibilities for today so I found a safe place to hang a u-turn, turned around, and went back to take the dirt road indicated by the sign. After a short stretch there was another sign saying 10 miles to the trailhead and 11.5 miles to the arch itself. Doable, so I proceeded along. Buzzing along at a good clip I noticed one of those orange hwy safety/notice signs lying on the ground. I was past it before I had any chance to read what the sign said. Oh well. I hope it wasnt important... After about 6 miles or so the nice, flat, speedy road descended into the canyon cut by Lexington Creek and turned into a narrow two track path that followed the creek uphill. Easy enough going, but I thought that if anyone was coming the other way it would be very difficult for us to pass each other as there were very few wide spots along the way. It soon became evident that this was a recent burn area; all of the trees were charcoaled and dead. There were significant road erosions where I had to slow to a crawl in order not bounce the contents in the back of the Expedition up to the roof. Eventually, I came to a wide, flat area and was a little surprised to see 3 vehicles parked there. Additionally, there was a bunch of gear in a pile between the vehicles, but no people. ??? I checked, but the vehicles did not look like official ones. What does this mean? Is this the trailhead? I was confused. On the other side it looked like the road continued, but there was a small yellow sign with something on it. When I got close enough to read I saw that it was warning you about dead trees from the burn falling on you (basically), but nothing about the road or trail. Looking ahead I saw that the character of the path had changed dramatically. What was a decent two track path was now a rough, rocky trail that was in and out of the creek bed. I looked for signs of vehicle tracks because I wasnt sure if I was allowed to keep driving. Convincing myself that I did see what I wanted, I drove on. Slowly. And carefully. This required 4wd which I quickly switched into. It was very rough and even though I tried to be careful I inevitably bounced way more than I wanted. At one point the trail (not road) left the creek bed via a short, steep embankment. No problem normally, but erosion had made it vey narrow. Too narrow? Maybe... What the hell. I can do it (I hope)! Up I went. No problem! As I continued to crawl and bounce along, the niggling that I shouldnt be doing this grew stronger and stronger. Is this the hiking trail or the road? What did that sign on the side of the road say? What if I run into those people? Are they officials? Why is all of their stuff piled outside their vehicles? My angst grew, especially as the path did not improve. Enough! It just didnt feel right so I turned around and headed back out. I decided not to park with the other vehicles and hike in because I had no idea how much farther the arch itself was from there, maybe I wasnt supposed to even be in this far, and I have been to Lexington Arch before (though many, many years ago). Some other day! On the way to the hwy I stopped to read what the fallen sign said. Road Closed 1000 ft Ahead Ooops! Ha ha. Thats the second time Ive not seen a road closure in a national park in a month. What a lawbreaker I am! I gassed up in Baker, then went to the Visitor Center. There I discussed my options with the helpful ranger at the front desk. From that I decided to head up to the end of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Road and do a five mile hike to a couple of alpine ponds and the Bristlecone Pine Grove. I climbed the steep grade to the top, admiring the grand views of the valley below along the way. (But not too much to be unsafe.) I parked and gathered my gear. Because it was evident that here was a chance of afternoon thunderstorms and because if you hike in the mountains in the summer you should be prepared for afternoon thunderstorms, I brought along a jacket that I thought was water resistant. I grabbed up my fanny pack of 10 Essentials (which was more like 5 Essentials), threw in a soda and a granola bar, mounted the camera to the monopod, and headed up the trail. Saving the best for last I took the trail to the right to the ponds first. The trail climbed from the beginning gained a elevation, but not too steeply, in and out of the sun. The temperature up here was a pleasant 72°; a huge difference from the valley floor below. In a mile or so I came to the first pond. Nothing special, but as I was sitting on a fallen tree admiring the view of the peaks just above and the cumulus clouds building there, I was visited by a curious chipmunk who graciously posed for a few pictures. Continuing on, in no time at all I came to the second, bigger pond. This was populated by a noisy group of boys (scouts?) so linger I did not. The pond loop intersected with the Bristlecone Pines Grove loop so up again I went. I passed a family of three as the trail climbed up along the side of the hill. By this time I could hear what sounded like thunder, but in the distance. Looking up I saw that the clear blue sky of before had been replaced by gray clouds. Looks like rain. No biggie. Im prepared. Sure enough, it started to rain. Then it started to hail. What?!? Yes, (big) pea-sized hail. I pulled my jacket tighter and hiked on. I passed a couple who were debating on whether to continue or not. Itll soon pass, I said as I continued past them. Well, it slowed, but then it started raining harder forcing me to seek shelter. By this time there was definitely lightening in the area so now I had to worry about that. It was still at least a mile away so I found myself shelter under a tree, but not the highest tree. (By now I was up in the grove.) my retreat was pretty good at sheltering me from the H2O so I sat back to observe the storming. To the north I saw 2 flashes of lightening on the adjacent peak which I tried to capture in a photo, but as always, I was too slow. Then I decided to shoot a video because then I wouldnt have to try and react/anticipate. I set the camera and video mode and started recording. And recording. And recording... After almost 10 minutes I gave up. Thought there was plenty of thunder (hence lightening) it was no longer in the direction I was shooting. Shoot! By this time though the rain/hail had pretty much let up so I got back on the trail through the grove, snapping a picture here and there. Up the trail a bit I caught up with another intrepid hiker/photographer and we chatted. Turns out he too was on a cross country tour of national parks and monuments. We traded some stories and, Have you been to...? I dispensed some of my photography and travel knowledge which he graciously appreciated while we both sat enjoying the surround sound show of lightening and thunder - still safely distant. Then it wasnt. Then it started raining and hailing again. Hard! Everyone up on the mountain started a mad dash down. Turns out my deal of a jacket from Costco was not water-resistant, but since it was all polyester I wasnt cold though it soon became soaked. (I dont know why I thought it was...) Before, I wasnt too worried about the camera getting a little wet, because after all, its a $3300 camera (plus lens) and its built tough! But now it was raining too hard so I stuffed it under my now soaked jacket. After about 25 minutes, with the rain letting up significantly by the time I neared the trailhead, I arrived back at the Expedition. Though soaked, I was not cold or uncomfortable at all because it hadnt cooled off that much, and the only cotton I had on was my unmentionables. (Cotton is a killer when it gets wet and its cold.) I fared much better than everyone else I saw because most had no jacket and most were swathed in cotton clothing. But even for them it wasnt that bad as it was a relatively warm day and a relatively short hike to dryness. I swapped to a dry shirt, but left the shorts on because they were almost dry after sitting a short time in the Expedition. By the time I was ready to leave it was dark and I was the last one in the parking lot. On the way down I saw flashes at about my level over the valley below. There was a single cloud parked overhead a few miles east of the park entrance generating a lightening flash every few minutes. I gotta capture that! I pulled over, switched to video mode and... Wait! I need to change the settings. Why wont they change? Whats going on here?!? Crap!!! I couldnt set anything with the 2 main dials. They werent working. I couldnt believe it! The camera is not working. Because of the rain? The trip is over! What am I going to do now? I tried and tried, but the thing worked intermittently at best. This is a catastrophe! I cant travel with a non-working camera. It just isnt done! Woe is me, I thought. I started up again down the hill, my mind a blur as I processed this situation. At the bottom, I pulled over, got out a can of compressed air and blew all around the dials and controls. Maybe I can dry it out. No luck. I then placed the camera on the passenger side by the front heater vent and turned the heat up to max. I started driving towards Strawberry Creek in the northern part of the park where the ranger had suggested I could find a place for the night. After 20-30 minutes I found, in the dark, what seemed like a pretty decent spot. I pulled in, turned off the engine, retrieved the camera from the floor and tried it again. Still busted! So I pulled out the battery (in case that was contributing to the problem) and set the camera aside. Ill deal with/check it in the morning. Nothing I can do now. I tried not to think about if the camera is truly broken... So now Im messing around, preparing for an evening parked, and I dont remember exactly what happened, but I shut the rear passenger door and the alarm went off. And the doors locked. And the keys are inside! Im locked out!! I cannot believe this!!! I went around to the drivers side and pulled on the front door handle. Locked too. But the alarm went off. (Who cares? Theres nobody around. For miles!) Fortunately, I have a keyless entry. I keyed in the code. Oh no! Nothing!! I tried again. Slowly. Carefully. Still locked!! OK, now Im feeling a little stressed. I am locked out of my vehicle. At night. Miles from anyone. Its night and I have no light or supplies or anything besides what Im wearing. This is not good! I start contemplating how and which window I am going to have to break to get in, and then how Im going to deal with that aftermath later. OK, deep breath. Try the code again. I verify each letter in my code with the old telephone number/letter combinations. Thats how I remember what keys I have to punch. I think I was off by one before. I key it in again with the correction. Hallelujah, Im in!! A wave of relief sweeps over me. I climb in, grab the keys and resolve never again to close up without the keys on me. By now its well after 10 and I still need to eat dinner. I heat up one of the containers, spin up a video on my Surface Pro, and eat. I am exhausted. From the hike, the trying events, and Im still running a sleep deficit from the last couple of weeks. I go to sleep. Tomorrow we will see if I continue as planned, or... I had an exciting day...
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 05:09:27 +0000
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